Adding backup camera to 2012 non-nav Prius 2 with touch screen

I am going a little nuts here since this camera install is Kicking my Butt!.

Ok-I purchased the Camera that has the bump in the cable which is the 12v to 3.3 regulator. I cut that piece off and was left with a jack that held 3 wires-yellow (camera video), red (camera power), black (Shares ground for power and video)

Next I found the car harness with the camera connection located above the headliner, tested and wired up to the new camera.

For regulating the voltage I am using the the "LM2596 Buck DC-DC Adjustable Step Down Power Supply Module Converter"" from amazon to take the cars 6v to step down 3.3v.

Ok-SO I have tested every variable that I could think of and still no luck. No video. None.

What I have figured out from my testing.
I have power-The cars WHITE wire sends 6v to the LM2596 for a few seconds are start up. The output from the LM2596 does the same thing but has dropped the voltage down to 3.4 volts.
The Cars Orange wire is connected to the cameras BLACK wire.
Cars RED wire is connected to the cameras YELLOW Wire.
Ive tried all sorts of ways of grounding the camera and the LM2596. Currently the LM2596 is getting its ground signal from the cars ORANGE wire.

I even tested the cameras RED wire for voltage and it slightly increases when the 6v is the car but then it shuts off once the signal stops.

-What triggers the Camera?
-What is the purpose of the cars ORANGE wire?

All help is greatly appreciated. Never would I have thought that this wouldve kicked my butt.

 

I am using T taps but they are fine since i checked continuity between the connector on the wire to the routed wire at the camera location.

There is something up with the radio not sensing the camera feed. I wish there was an easier way to check if the camera sends out a video feed other then bringing a separate monitor into the car. ha.

Ive read that some people are making a separate ground and tying that into the camera ground and Orange cable? No diodes?

Also-for routing cables from the camera into the car I found a VERY easy fix. Remove the plastic clip located where the camera is installed and route your cables through this hole. Made it very clean and simple.

 

Are there any fuses associated with the "4" camera cables? Orange, Black, White, Red.

Does anyone know what the vehicles black wire is for? Some posts people use it for ground, others dont.

Will the camera work with the hatch up?

Does anyone know what the voltage would range from the cameras video output?

 

Just redid all the connects and crimped instead of T tapped. Nothing.

Tomorrow I will try connecting at the kick panel and see if that changes anything? My power is good so I am leaving the WHITE wire alone. Now its either the Cars RED or ORANGE wire.... This is getting really annoying.

 

I'm currently installing a front-camera in my Prius Plug-in, but this type of mod scares me. I don't like to be soldering anything into the existing system.

I bought all the correct modules and I'm only adding power switches to possibly power a passenger-side camera as well, which I hope will allow me to switch between two cameras by supplying power to one or the other. I plan to combine both composite video cables into one input, so that my display will only receive a video signal from the camera that is being powered at the time.

The back-up camera was left unaltered. So far the front camera works great as a VTR auxiliary input. I also have to put light pressure on the parking brake to allow the display to work. It also locks out the video at speeds over 5 mph. I plan to use both cameras only at very slow speeds. If I want to disable the video lockout, I have to buy a $200 module from BeatSonic.

 

Much as I love soldering and modifying, when I added a backup camera, (not to the Prius) I paid about $80 for a kit which took me about 20 minutes to install. The wireless camera attached behind the license plate with stickum. The power wire was easy to tap off the backup light. The display was built in to a mirror which clamped over the original rear-view mirror. The power wire was easy to route around the headliner and plug into the 12V power socket. I did it all in the parking lot of the store where I bought it.

 

Too bad the camera isn't a plug-in replacement like a light bulb.

 

In my brief experience with buying off-shore products, the quality is often hit-and-miss. I had to pay to send one dash-cam back for the "free-exchange," which cost me roughly half the price I paid for it. If I had wanted it insured, it would have cost me 150% of the original price. Quite frankly, it often seems worthwhile to pay the higher price from a dealer, which can save a lot of hassle in the long-run.

 

I'd like to see a mod where the backup camera records a video automatically when an impact occurs. The way some dash-cams work is that they are continuously recording a loop, and a g-sensor registers when an impact occurs, and the camera saves a video which started 30 seconds before the crash and ends several minutes after the crash. It would be a good option to have this incorporated into the backup camera design.

In lieu of this, I am planning to install another dash-cam in the back window of my Prius, which automatically records 5-minute videos when ever you start the car. If an impact occurs, or if the camera picks up motion while it's parked, the video clip is saved as a protected file. When the 32GB micro SD card is full, it starts over-writing the oldest files.

 

I would like to share for those interest in Toyota terminal 82998-24300 with wire. I have it for sale (# 281434884684) on ebay for 5.99 + shipping.

 

What are they for?

 

OK - I'm under the headliner, got plenty of room, have disconnected the male end of the plug, but the female end of the plug is in some sort of holder. I cant seem to get it out of there, which is what I see in others photos. This is on a 2012. I have been trying for 90+ minutes.

 

Thanks for the reply. I ended up going to the kickpanel yesterday and it works great. But to solve this mystery, here's some more info: I traced the wires that came from this connector and they go straight to my hatch. I am doubly sure as I forgot to reconnect it before putting it all back together and was stumped at first when my hatch wouldn't open. Also, if you look up in the upper right corner, you can see the bundle of black/red/orange/white going in to the female plug. The male plug had nothing in the corresponding pinouts. Also, I took out the dome light and grab handles and had the headliner down pretty far and saw nothing else. I'm 90% sure due to all those clues, that this is the right connector. I think I just have the connector-mount option no one else had.

 

Can somebody please tell me where that 6.5V wire is. I recall that I was looking at it at one time, but that was about a year or so ago. Now that I bought an HU with a backup camera, I don't remember where the power wire is. Duh. And thanks for your reply (except to say, Duh).

Mike